I hated the Dark Knight even more. I really dislike the Sin City, Matrix, Dark Knight etc type of movies. Oddly enough I absolutely LOVED No Country for Old men. Which was one of the reasons why I was so excited to see Fargo since they're both done by the same brothers. I've yet to watch Blood simple and Lebowski. I'll have to check those out.
Role models- 7/10 I had low expectations but it had some REALLY funny moments... Spoiler "you probably heard that out of context" "excuse me?" "when i asked my friend danny if he wanted to get raped?" "and you're in the slammer like MC hammer" "did MC hammer go to prison?" "yes he did, or he came extremely close, certainly filed for bankruptcy."
A Scanner Darkly - 9/10 I really love this movie. It isn't perfect by any means, but writing a screenplay based on a Phillip K Dick science fiction novel is a pretty daunting task, let alone directing it at the same time. Richard Linklater (Dazed and Confused, Fast Food Nation) is talented enough to do both very well. Despite the evident shortcomings of Keanu Reeves as an actor, one can argue that he plays a confused component of his own brain very well in this movie. Robert Downey Jr. is the real gem here, he steals the show with his frantic verbosity and calculated paranoia. The subject matter is very dense. This is a tough movie to "get" on the first viewing. This may also be in part to the rotoscoping style of animation that adds a particularly creepy futuristic vibe. Overall, it is a fantastic movie and a very adequate adaptation of an important novel.
Saw City of Ember on DVD...I really liked it in the theater, but on second viewing it does start to show its flaws. At around 2 hrs, it still feels completely rushed. The characters have hardly any depth and the movie spends a little too much time on an utterly pointless tangent that is never explained and is not even in the book. The sets give the film some good eye candy, but ultimately I guess it was just an average movie that could have been much more. 5/10
Tropic Thunder - 7.5/10 I finally got around to watching this movie. I was skeptical, but hopeful. It had some laugh-out-loud moments, for sure. What surprised me most was Tom Cruise. He absolutely stole the show from a cast of greats.
Just saw "Okuribito" ("Departures"), the Oscar winner of best foreign movie. I will give it 7/10. Beautiful movie about a gruesome topic to most people.
taken --extended cut --- 6.5/10 --it actually had better action sequences than I thought but there was a bit too many "thats really convenient" story changes and all. i liked how liam neison character was pretty bad ass and did what was needed 'good guy' rules be damned. Star Trek The Original Motion Picture (old version) 5/10 --- I may have appreciated this more i am not sure it seemed very very slow paced to me and the whole "twist" with VGER seemed kind of dumb....part of my quest to watch all 9 star trek films (i had only seen wrath of khan previously) before the release of the new one. Zach and Miri --- 7/10 --had some really funny moments especially early on at the high school reunion with the "apple" guy. it kind of got a bit lame and predictable at the end. I would have given it a 9 if we saw any of elizabeth banks' amazing body. next on the list: wrath of khan (again), sex drive (unrated), monsters vs aliens (hopefully by weeks end),
Wendy and Lucy. Nice, slow-moving film about a girl who gets broke on a road trip; Michelle Williams looks decent as always and Will Patton has a nice turn as a mechanic store owner. Che. 257 minutes, 15 minute intermission and an annoyingly narrower focus than I would have hoped or expected for that length; but nice musical score, and this pretty much might be the best thing Benicio Del Toro does as a lead actor. The battle scenes were really nice in surround sound: that's probably because it was all rifles and machine guns with no tanks or big explosions. And I'm pretty sure that's the first and only time I've ever seen Lou Diamond Phillips (small role) speak Spanish. For a Cuban revolution movie, I'll take Andy Garcia's (equally biased and much less historical) The Lost City just as well.
Knowing (55%) - Ehh...watched it on bootleg while I was half asleep, so maybe my judgment is off one way or another, but it just seemed bland to me. A couple of nice scenes, but nothing revolutionary for me. Miracle Mile (73%) - The story and cast were good, but (maybe this is too picky) the girl that Anthony Edward's character falls in love with at first sight is very dikey looking. It made the whole attempt to save her seem less believable and less urgent. I would have left her ass. Oh by the way, don't watch this if you're depressed. It won't help. American Movie (83%) - This was...well, I don't even know. Part documentary, part train wreck, part non-stop laughter at the expense of others. If you've seen it you know what I mean, and if you haven't seen it, watch it. It's quite entertaining.
X-Files: I Want to Believe 5/10 - An attempt to examine religious themes of redemption, forgiveness, and faith gets drowned in over-the-top Dana Scully melodrama. I also had a problem with Mulder not being involved at all in Scully's journey of faith and belief. Those two are supposed to be closer than that aren't they? Flags of Our Fathers 5/10 - Just not an interesting story. I dozed off a few times. Part of the problem was the Ira Hayes character's endless tearful guilt-tripping. Maybe he was like that in real life, but I just don't want to watch that over and over and over ... Flash of Genius 7/10 - Based on the true story of the inventor of the intermittent windshield wiper who had to fight an uphill battle to realize the American Dream. Kinnear does some good acting here. Also, his struggle is inspiring but not overly glorified like Disney. One quibble I had was the movie seemed to compress the timeline of events. The real inventor, Robert Kearns, didn't actually get his day in court until about 20 yrs after he was screwed by Ford. Quarantine 5/10 - Mildly entertaining "B" horror flick in the style of Blair Witch and Cloverfield ... that is, until our leading lady lost control and went into the histrionics of a frightened two-year-old. Very annoying. Body of Lies 5/10 - Hollywood tells us why we haven't been able to catch Osama Bin Laden. It's because we are woefully inept, cruel, exploitative and stupid. We should let Pakistani Intelligence do the job. After all, they should know how to handle things in their own country. My real problem isn't with the movie's very heavy-handed peddling of its political agenda (I'm no admirer of the great "W"). What sucks is they shoot themselves in the foot with a huge plot hole: the all-knowing, shrewdly intelligent Jordanian Official doesn't know that a major terror cell safe house has been operating in his own area, yet somehow the bumbling idiot Americans know and they've got pictures to boot. Now, does that make sense with the rest of the movie? Nope. Also, Leonardo is not a good actor.
JCVD 9/10 - Jean-Claude Van Damme plays Jean-Claude Van Damme in a pretty clever heist movie, which turns out to be a thoroughly entertaining thriller. Quite an unexpected performance by him, which is probably why I gave it a 9, but it still deserves at least an 8 anyhow.
I wonder why Gillian Anderson doesn't have a bigger American film career. She has name recognition and when she ditches the short red hair, she's fairly attractive: kind of Virginia Madsen or Natascha McElhone. Is it possible that all the X-Files money allows her to take it easy and only do low key projects she's interested in? I've always liked Greg Kinnear; but up to this point I'd never seen his characters show any real distress. More than anything this movie highlighted what evil pricks the Big Three used to be 30 or 40 years ago, like when GM hired a private investigator to wiretap and blackmail Ralph Nader after he wrote Unsafe at Any Speed. Even though I liked Rendition, House of Saddam, Farenheit/Farenhype and Charlie Wilson, I have no appettite for this or many other WOT-themed fiction (excepting Rendition); probably because I think we have enough related media that the films may seem a little derivative and unneccesary. But I bet twenty years from now they'll mostly be well-regarded, particularly by anyone too young to know or remember this era.
Aw, I bet you wanted to just jump into the screen and comfort ole Scully as she wrestled with her conscience, which is why I ask where the heck was Mulder? I thought it also highlighted how the deck is stacked against the little guy when it comes to justice over patent infringement. I thought it was extraordinary that he succeeded while serving as his own legal counsel at trial.
Milk - 9/10 This movie was fantastic. Sean Penn is an unbelievable actor. Rachel Getting Married - 6/10 This movie was okay. I'm not a dude to enjoy Anne Hataway other than her acting abilities. The Other Boleyn Girl - 9/10 I loved this movie!! Eric Bana is a hottie. It didn't hurt that Scarlett Johannson and Natalie Portman were in it too.
Monsters vs Aliens - 3D IMAX - A After seeing the moving last night and sleeping on it before writing this I'd have to give it an A. The animation is beautiful and it wasn't like they were trying to shove some message down our throats (I'm looking at you Wall-E)
It's always been one of my favorite films, although I would have a terrible time making a top ten list. There's been too many great movies. Apocalypse Now Redux is just filled with unforgettable images. Martin Sheen was amazing. Making the film nearly killed him, literally, but it's arguably his best work. The whole scene on the river at the bridge, where the Playboy Bunnies drop in to put on the show, is crazy beyond belief. In Redux, they have another scene later with the Bunnies that I don't remember from the original. I won't say what happens, but I'm glad it's included. Just a crazy good flick, IMO.
Role Models: 7.5/10 ... Solid comedy, kept me laughing. None of the characters were great but together they were entertaining. 007 Quantum of Solace: 6/10 ... you know what you're getting watching a Bond movie, and this is no different. I'm not a huge Bond fan but I liked this one just the same as most of the others.
The Hunting at Conneticut Really scary IMO 9/10 scare factor 8/10 source material (story) 6/10 Presentation (story) Overall: 8/10 The story was not explained too well. Based on a true story I think. But I don't believe in ghost stories so...
